The First Four Months and Other Stories
by WellBlessMyNippers
Summary: A companion piece to my other story, What Makes a Monster. This series of one-shots is just supposed to be fun glimpses into the lives of Sephiroth, Zack, Cloud, and Annya. Parings: Sephiroth/OC, Zack/Cloud
1. The First Month

**Author's Note: **This is just an extra companion story to _What Makes a Monster_. The first four chapters of this deal with the time skip that happened between Chapters 3 and 4. All other chapters will just be extra things that I think of.

**Chapter 1: First Day of Work**

There was a soft knock at the door.

"Come in." Sephiroth did not look up from his ever-present pile of paperwork. He couldn't afford to.

The he heard the door open and shut again. Heels clicked over to the second desk that had been placed in his office just yesterday. A paper shopping bag was set on the desktop. He heard the continuous rustle of paper followed by soft clicks and taps that indicated several items were being removed from the bag and placed on the wooden surface. This was all followed by a chipper, "Good morning, Sir!"

He finally looked up. "Good morning, Annya. You are early."

She stood there dressed in a grey pantsuit, a far cry from the other day's pink ensemble. "Well, I didn't want to be late on my first day. Did you eat breakfast?" she asked.

He returned to his papers. "No, I did not have time to grab anything."

"Good! Because I brought you something." She reached into the shopping bag again and pulled out a thermos and a plastic container as well as a mug and small plate.

She carefully set the dishes in the only empty space of his desk. He forgot his paperwork and just stared at her impassively as she served him. Then she opened the plastic container and thermos and the smell of sugar and coffee hit his nose. She removed a cheese danish from the plastic container and placed it onto the plate and then poured the coffee into the mug.

She uncovered two small, glass bowls, which had earlier been arranged neatly on her desk, to reveal single creamers and sugar cubes. "Would you like any cream or sugar?"

"You are absurdly prepared."

She looked a bit uncomfortable. "Sorry?"

He gave his head a little shake. "Nevermind. Thank you. Both, please."

"How many?"

"Four creams, five sugars" He grabbed the danish with his free hand and took a bite. When all that met him was silence he swallowed and quickly explained, "I actually hate the taste of coffee. I just need the caffeine."

"Fair enough." She laughed lightly and added the cream and sugar.

He went to take another bite of danish. "This is good. Where did you get it?"

"I made it."

He stopped mid-bite. "You made it?"

"Yes," she replied as she tossed the empty shopping bag into the garbage and sat down.

"How early did you have to get up to do this?"

"Four."

He sighed and put the danish down. "You do not have to make me breakfast."

She smiled at him. "I know I don't. I made for Zack too if that makes you feel better. Besides, I've gotten up that early since I really young, so I would have been up anyway."

"Why would you get up that early if you did not have to?"

Her smile grew bitter. " I did have to. My mother insisted that a proper housewife has to be able to wake up before everyone else in the house. I guess the lesson stuck because now I can't wake up later than four if I tried."

Sephiroth nodded slightly as if in agreement. That was something he could sympathize with all too well. His childhood was spent being woken up at the crack of dawn for testing and as a result he actually had to make an effort to sleep in.

He sighed and looked at the two largest piles of paperwork on his desk. He rested his hand on the much smaller of the two. "This is all finished papers. File them by 'identification number', please. The file cabinets on the far wall."

"Yes, sir." She stood immediately and got to work and once again he devoted himself to the unfinished pile. He only looked back at her when he heard her return to her desk. She looked like she wanted to say something but was holding back.

"Go on. I cannot expect you to not have questions when you have just started."

For a moment, she considered where to begin. "How come my furniture is here and yours isn't?"

"I had it rush delivered so you would have somewhere to work."

"Shouldn't I be somewhere outside your actual office? Isn't the noise of a whole nother person going to distract you?"

"I am not that easy to distract."

"Zack says otherwise."

"Zack makes special effort to distract me. If the only noise you make is from you working then we will not have a problem."

She nodded. His meaning was perfectly clear. "Why do you have so much paperwork in the first place? Why aren't there other people to handle the administrative things so you can actually focus on your men?"

Sephiroth sighed. "There are other people. Yet I still have paperwork. Red tape comes with every company and it can be quite hard to cut through."

She paused for a long time before continuing. "Are you sure you want me as your secretary? I have zero experience and you don't know me from beans."

He sighed yet again. "Honestly, no, I am not sure. But I was trying to do your brother a favor."

"That's what I thought." She grew silent.

He reached into his top desk drawer and pulled out a planner. He tossed it perfectly in front of her. "That is my appointment book. I always just jot things down whenever I have a free second. That means it is full of mistakes. I need you to go through it and sort out any conflicts. After you finish that, that book will be your responsibility from now on. You will run my schedule and make sure I know what my schedule is."

"Got it, sir." She idly flipped through the notebook. She could already tell he wasn't kidding when he said it was full of mistakes.

"The Shinra Directory is in your top desk drawer. It contains whatever you will need to know about who is who in the company. When I go down to the barracks today, I suggest you go introduce yourself to as many of those people as you can. They will be going through you to get to me now and they will have to know who you are if we expect them to listen to you. I would rather introduce you myself but I am unfortunately too busy."

"It's no problem. I'll do that."

"Good." He returned to his work without another word. Annya pulled out the Shinra Directory and a blank notepad and got to work herself.

Only the sounds of pens scratching furiously across paper and pages turning filled the office till ten of ten when there was a knock at the door. Zack entered without waiting to be invited.

"Mornin' guys," he said cheerily.

Sephiroth nodded in greeting and Annya gave him a quick "good morning", neither looking at him.

Unperturbed by being ignored, he walked over and leaned against his sister's desk. "How's your first day, Ay?"

"Fine." She pushed the plastic container towards him.

He opened it and beamed. "Danishes!"

"All yours," she replied, smiling.

Sephiroth stood up suddenly, drawing the attention of both Fairs. "I am leaving for the barracks. Are you coming with me, Zack?"

"Sir, yes, sir!" Zack spat out though a mouthful of danish as he saluted and shuffled out the door with the plastic container in hand. Sephiroth started out the door himself. As he passed Annya he wished her luck and told her not to be afraid of throwing his name around to get where she needed to go.

**xXxXxXx**

Annya clutched the Shinra Directory to her chest as she made her way to the science department. She had also brought Sephiroth's planner. If she was making rounds she might as well try to fix the disaster that was his schedule. It was a wonder how one of the things Sephiroth was known for was his punctuality when the man couldn't keep his schedule straight.

She has already met with Palmer, Heidegger, and Scarlet. Or rather she had met with their secretaries, who had been pleasant enough till she had inconsiderately tried to change around some of Sephiroth's appointments and interfere with their bosses' busy schedules.

Reeve had been out when she stopped by but his secretary had politely asked her to see if she could fit in a meeting between Sephiroth and Reeve sometime in the next week.

Next, she visited the Turk office. Tseng had met with her directly, agreed easily to reschedule a meeting, and wished her luck in her new job. Before leaving, she was snared by two Turks, one redheaded and the other wearing shades, who made her agree to join them after work for a welcome-to-Shinra drink.

Professor Hojo was next on her list. Every single appointment with Hojo had a scheduling conflict in the planner.

She reached the labs and stopped the first person she came across. "Excuse me, is Professor Hojo in?"

"He's in his office but he doesn't like to be disturbed," the lab assistant replied.

"Can I speak with his secretary?"

"He doesn't have one. He doesn't trust anybody enough to handle his things."

"Sephiroth sent me. It's important."

"All right. If you say so. It's back there." He pointed to the closed door in the back of the room. "Good luck." He scurried off.

She walked back and knocked lightly on the door. There was no answer. She knocked one more time and the door opened sharply.

"What," the bespectacled man said curtly.

She smiled widely. "Good morning. I'm— "

"Get to the point."

She refused to let her smile falter. "I'm here about Sephiroth's schedule. He— "

"Right. Tell him I need him to be here Thursday at three p.m." He closed the door in her face.

She stared at the door for a second. She took out a pen and opened the planner. Thursday at three was perfectly free. She penned in the meeting with Reeve.

**xXxXxXx**

When she got back to Sephiroth's office he was still out. She rested her things down on her desk and called Reeve's secretary to confirm Thursday at three was a good time. Then she got to work filing the new papers in the finished pile. She kept a list of which id numbers she was filing in case she needed to pull them out again; he hadn't actually told her to file this set yet, after all.

Last paper filed, she looked around the office for something to do. The wall clock said it was only half past two and she had no idea when Sephiroth would be back. She sighed. Her father always said that "a good worker can always find something to do". But there really was nothing she could think of. She'd already finished smoothing out Sephiroth's schedule and she didn't want to touch any of the other papers because she didn't know what they were. Otherwise, the office was as tidy as could be. She wished Sephiroth was a slob so she could at least clean.

She idly opened the drawer of the nearest file cabinet. The labels on the folders were kind of faded. And that's how Sephiroth found her half an hour later: sitting on the floor with a black marker, tracing over all the labels.

He just looked at her, expression unreadable. "What are you doing?"

"Tracing these labels."

"And the schedule?"

"I cleaned it up already. Well except for Hojo's appointments. But it's his own fault he wouldn't cooperate."

Sephiroth snorted. "I apologize. I should have warned you about Hojo. Did you meet everyone else?"

"They were all busy so I just met their secretaries. I met Tseng and the rest of the Turks though."

"And what did you think of the Turks?"

"I like them. I'm going out for a drink with two of them after work."

Sephiroth cringed. "They go to exactly the types of bars I was trying to keep you out of by giving you this job."

"It's just one drink. Besides it can't hurt to have a few friends in the Turks."

"That is true. It is much better to have the Turks as friends than enemies." He sat at his desk and grabbed the first paper from the unfinished pile and placed it in front of him. He looked at her. "I apologize that you are spending a lot of time just sitting around today. I do not currently have the time to properly train you. I hate to ask you to stay late but I do not have free time till after work."

"I don't mind."

He nodded. "Until then, you are just free to sit there and read or something unless something comes up."

**xXxXxXx**

"Work's over everyone! Let's get goin'," Zack said as he burst into Sephiroth's office.

Sephiroth checked his clock before casting his pen aside. "Actually, Zack, Annya and I are staying late today— "

"Damn, Seph, you move fast!"

"— because I have to train her and I did not have time to during the day, Zachary." Sephiroth glared at the Second Class. Annya snickered from behind her book.

"You are such a hardass, Seph. Keeping her late on her first day." Zack tsked and wagged his finger at him before plopping down onto a loveseat.

"You are not staying here, Zack," Sephiroth said firmly.

"So, you are trying to get her alone." He waggled his eyebrows at the silver-haired man.

Before Sephiroth could get angrier, Annya interjected, "Hey, Zack. Would you mind doing me a favor?"

The Second Class looked to her inquiringly.

"I was supposed to go with Reno and Rude for a drink. Can you just tell them to go ahead without me and I'll meet them when I'm done?" she asked sweetly.

Zack's face fell. "You can't go drinking with the Turks."

"I can and I am. As soon as I'm done with Sephiroth."

His brows furrowed. "Alright, I'll let them know. I need to have a few words with them anyway it looks like."

They watched the raven-haired man leave. Annya turned to Sephiroth and grinned. "I got rid of him, General. You're free to have your way with me now."

Sephiroth rolled his eyes.


	2. The Second Month

**Chapter 2: Technophobic**

"Annya, what is that?"

"You know what a computer is, Sir."

"Stop calling me 'sir'. Zack will not stop teasing me about it and I cannot take it anymore."

"All right. You know what a computer is, Sephiroth."

"Of course I know what a computer is. Why is this one here?" He pointed at the offending object on his desk.

"I put in the request to IT a few days ago and they brought it today. I got one too," she pointed to her own.

"Why?" He looked at her blankly.

"Because it's my job to make sure you're as efficient as possible. The computers will make that easier."

He looked slightly offended. "I am already very efficient."

She smiled. "Yes, of course you are. You'll just be even more efficient now."

He eyed her suspiciously before sitting cautiously in front of the offending piece of technology. As a child, he had seen more than his fair share of computers in the labs. He had not been allowed to touch them, however, and had been punished if he so much as looked at them too long. He pressed the power button and watched the boot screen for a second before he felt a pair of eyes on him. He looked up to find Annya watching him with great interest.

"What?" he asked curtly.

She shrugged. "Nothing really. It's just cute how hard you're glaring at it."

He didn't think he liked being patronized so he redirected his glare at her.

Her smile subdued. "Would you like some help?"

"Yes, please."

She got up and moved to his side of his desk. She leaned over his shoulder to point out the most important things for him to know such as his calendar and his web browser. He listened attentively as she opened his email client to show him she had already set it up for him, all while ignoring the small voice in his head that was trying to draw his attention to the parts of her anatomy that were pressed innocently against his shoulder.

She straightened up and he let out a breath he didn't know he was holding. "Well, that should be good enough to start with. You'll learn as you go. At least now you won't be sending me around with handwritten notes anymore."

"So you just wanted the computers because you are lazy."

She laughed and returned to her desk to finish the email she had been typing.

He started on an email himself. It took him about ten seconds to realize something was amiss.

"Why do you type so much faster than me? And how are you not even looking at the keyboard?" He sounded indignant.

She laughed. "Practice. I've been on computers since I was tiny. Zack used to let me use his laptop. He's the one who taught me to type. I'll bet he'll teach you too, if you asked."

Sephiroth grumbled.

"Want me to ask him?"

"Why can I not just write drafts for you to type up?"

"You can. That's what I'm here for. But I'm sure at some point you'll have to send an email with information I'm not supposed to know. You'll need to be able to handle it yourself then. And you don't want to take half-an-hour to type one email or whatnot."

"I suppose."

She stood up. "I'll go see if Zack is busy."

**xXxXxXx**

"Hey, Seph!"

"Hello, Zack."

"Moving into this century, I hear."

"Why is Annya not with you?" He had been hoping that with her here, Zack wouldn't be able to focus on him fully.

"She didn't feel like cookin' today so she went out to pick up lunch for us."

"Oh."

Zack grinned. "Ready for your first typing lesson?"

Sephiroth sighed. "I do not have a choice, do I?"

"Of course not, Seph."


	3. The Third Month

**Chapter 3: Interior Design**

"Seph! We're here!"

There was no answer.

Zack knocked again. "Seph!"

Still no answer.

Zack looked at his sister. "He's in there and he's up, I know he is. He doesn't sleep past five even on Saturdays."

Annya just shrugged and picked up the paint cans and bags with the brushes and tools. "I'll just go ahead and put this stuff in the office. See you when you're done collecting him." She headed off.

Zack bid her farewell and knocked on the door again. He received a muffled, "what do you want, Zack," for his effort.

"How'd you know it was me?" Zack asked as the door swung open.

"Nobody is quite as tenacious as you, Zack." Sephiroth yawned and moved out of the doorway so the Second Class could enter. "And to what do I owe for the pleasure of your beautiful face this morning?"

"Would you have preferred Annya?"

"Greatly."

"Ouch, Seph." He glanced at The General's pajamas. "You weren't still sleeping were you?"

"No. I was watching a movie."

"What movie?"

"I am not sure. It was good at the beginning when things were still exploding but they have since stopped."

"Oh, good. Well, get dressed then. They dropped your furniture off this morning so Annya wanted to put your office together. She's already there with all the paint and stuff. Or she's on her way at least."

Sephiroth yawned again. "All right. Give me a second."

**xXxXxXx**

By the time they got to Sephiroth's office, there were several brown boxes leaning against the hallway walls. Annya was busy taping off the baseboards of the office.

"Are these boxes the new furniture?" asked Sephiroth.

"Yep," Annya replied.

"It has been two months since it was ordered. I suppose when I rush ordered your desk it meant 'go ahead and take your sweet time with the rest'. Where are the couches?"

"I asked them to deliver those later so we can finish painting," she said without pausing in her task. "Can you guys move all the old furniture out while I finish this?"

"No problem, Ay. Prepare to be impressed by our manly SOLDIER muscles!" Zack boasted.

She rolled her eyes and looked up to retort but it caught in her throat when she spotted Sephiroth, in a black tee and jeans. "Oh."

"Good job, Seph. She's already speechless. Now, quick, bench-press your desk!"

Annya threw the roll of painter's tape at her brother. "I've never seen him not wearing leather before."

Zack eyed his friend. "I can see why he doesn't wear anything else. He doesn't know how to size other materials. Seph, those jeans are at least two sizes too small for you."

"You are just jealous your ass does not look half as good as mine in jeans," Sephiroth replied smoothly.

Annya giggled as she retrieved the tape, fighting the urge to check the accuracy of the General's claim.

Zack held his hands up in defeat. "Touché."

In another quarter hour the room was prepped for painting.

"What color is the paint?" Sephiroth asked.

"I dunno. Ay, chose it so I'll bet it's green." Zack pried open the lid to the first can. "Yup, green."

"I like green," Sephiroth said simply. The paint was a pleasant, deep green color that he recognized from somewhere but he couldn't quite place it.

Zack shrugged. "So does she." He started pouring paint into a paint tray.

The two SOLDIERs grabbed rollers. When Annya didn't move Sephiroth spoke up. "You are not painting, Annya?"

"I am." She pulled two sponges out of the bag then pried open the other paint can to reveal a lighter green paint. She followed them around the room sponging the light green on top then using the other sponge and the deep green paint to help blend.

"Why are we painting if you're just using both colors anyway?" Zack asked, annoyed.

"So we don't get white spots. It won't look right at the end if we don't do it this way," she explained patiently.

When the walls were completely covered, they stepped back to admire their work.

"Don't you think it's a little," Zack grasped for a word, "busy?"

Sephiroth considered it. It was awfully busy with the pattern on every single wall. However, most of his wall space was taken up by bookshelves. The pattern wouldn't be so overpowering once the shelves were back in place. Annya knew what she was doing.

"It'll look fine once all the furniture is in place. Trust me," she said as she started scraping excess paint off the trays back into the paint cans. "Are you guys hungry? I brought food"

Zack perked up immediately at the mention of food.

"It's in one of the bags."

In his rush to find the food Zack bumped into Sephiroth forcing him backwards over one of the paint cans. He fell and landed squarely in a paint tray.

Zack apologized profusely and offered Sephiroth his hand. The silver-haired man glared at the hand then up at the nervous Zack but he allowed the Second Class to help him up all the same.

Annya was frozen mid-scrape, staring at the now completely green seat of Sephiroth's pants.

Zack laughed heartily. "Hey, Seph. Guess what?"

"What?"

"Your ass matches Annya's eyes."

Annya stifled a laugh and resumed cleaning her paint tray, watching her hands intently to try and hide the pink tint of her cheeks.

Sephiroth's eyes narrowed. "Thank you for your input, Zachary," he said coldly. "Get the food out."

Recognizing an order when he heard one, Zack immediately got to work setting up lunch.

They ate quickly and Annya began clearing dishes as soon as they were finished. When Sephiroth stood up to help put away dishes, Zack laughed.

"Make sure you burn this drop cloth when we're done, Seph. Otherwise _someone_ might just frame that ass print you just made."

Annya blushed and told her brother to shut up.

With lunch done and Annya thanked, Sephiroth and Zack started pulling the brown boxes into the room as she laid out all the tools neatly. They started with Sephiroth's desk.

Pulling the pieces out of the box Zack could already tell it was from the same set as Annya's desk. When it was built, Sephiroth's would be the larger, more angular partner to Annya's more delicately styled desk.

"Your desks match." Zack turned to Sephiroth. "This is what you get for letting her do your office. It's adorable, oh fearsome general of mine."

"It would not look right if they did not match," Sephiroth said simply.

The rest of the furniture was built surprisingly without incident. Annya's desk was brought back in. The computers were returned to their rightful places. Once again, bookshelves lined the walls and book lined the shelves. Two new semi-circular dark green leather loveseats were now situated around the new round coffee table.

Sephiroth turned to the younger Fair. "It looks very nice, Annya."

"Thank you," she said absently, looking at Sephiroth's desk curiously. "My desk was ordered from the same company. Why didn't we have to build it too?"

"I stayed late and put it together the night it arrived," said Sephiroth.

"Oh." Annya said simply. "Thanks, Seph."

The General stiffened.

"Sorry. Sephiroth," she amended quickly.

"You are welcome, Annya."


	4. The Fourth Month

**Chapter 4: A Day Off**

Sephiroth looked up as a pantsuit-clad girl entered his office. "I thought today was your day off?"

"It is."

"Then why are you here and dressed for work?"

"Who takes a day off in their fourth month of employment? I just started, I don't need a break," Annya replied simply.

He tapped his monitor and smiled. "I have my entire schedule here. I can do without you for one day. You have made yourself obsolete. Besides, you deserve one. You have worked hard."

She raised an eyebrow. "You work hard. You don't take days off."

He had no rebuttal for that.

"Breakfast?" she asked, removing her usual plastic container and dishes from the bag.

"If I take a day off, will you take a day off?"

She sighed. "If you take a day off, I couldn't afford to take a day off because I would have to rearrange you schedule so we don't piss important people off."

He looked away from her and typed something quickly.

"What are you doing, Sephiroth?"

"You will see in about five seconds."

Five seconds later Zack entered the office. "Headed up as soon as I got your email."

"I need your help rearranging my schedule," the silver-haired man said.

Zack pointed to his sister. "I thought that was her job."

"All three of us are going to work on it so we can get it finished as quickly as possible. Then we will take the rest of the day off," he explained.

"And what about my schedule?" Zack asked.

Sephiroth looked him dead in the eye. "I don't care about your schedule."

"Thanks, Seph."

Annya laughed. "Don't worry, Zack. I'll fix yours too."

Between the three of them they were able to clear both Sephiroth's and Zack's schedule by ten.

"Now we can eat breakfast," Sephiroth said.

"Not mine," replied Annya, sounding a bit put out. "Pancakes don't taste good after this long."

"I'll eat 'em." Zack grabbed the plastic container.

"I was thinking we could go out," Sephiroth said.

"Sure, going out sounds great. I'm still gonna eat these. You don't throw away good Gongagan home cooking, Seph."

Annya just smiled as a disgusted Sephiroth proceeded to watch the Second Class shovel pancakes into his mouth. Sephiroth tore his eyes away from Zack to ask Annya where she'd like to eat.

"I don't really know Midgar enough to decide," she said.

"My choice then."

"Why not why choice?" Zack asked though a mouthful of pancake.

"Your choices are always wrong." He walked out the door leaving the Fairs behind.

Annya waited a good couple minutes to make sure Sephiroth was out of earshot then turned to her brother. "Why are you even friends with him? He's so mean to you that I'm actually starting to like him less."

Zack put a hand to his chest. "No, no, Little Sister. He doesn't mean it. And if he does, then he's an idiot for being willing to take a bullet for someone he hates so much."

"Has he ever actually taken a bullet for you before though?"

"Several bullets. And a few swords. And a bomb."

"Oh," was all she could say. She had meant a figurative bullet but a literal one was more than enough to assuage her worries.

"That's right. No need to allow it to dampen your crush."

"We should probably go after him." She rushed ahead and from down the hall she could still hear Zack laughing.

**xXxXxXx**

"I'm so disappointed." Zack looked sadly at his plate of pancakes. He had only taken one bite.

"Would you like my eggs?" Annya pushed her plate toward her brother.

Zack shook his head and said dramatically. "No, enjoy your food. It was the one who foolishly ordered pancakes thinking they might be as good as yours. This was my error and I must suffer for it."

Sephiroth rolled his eyes as he grabbed the syrup.

Annya smiled and thanked her brother for the compliment. This time she offered her french toast.

Sephiroth frowned. "Do not give him your food. You haven't eaten yet. He, however, ate a container of pancakes," Sephiroth said, pouring pour syrup onto his waffle.

Zack pouted but his attention was quickly grabbed by the General's Belgian waffle. "Syrup, whipped cream, and powdered sugar. That can't be good for you, Seph. That much sugar has got to react with the mako or something."

"I do not eat like this every meal. I will be fine."

Zack shrugged. "If you say so." He took a bite of the piece of french toast Annya had snuck on his plate while Sephiroth was replacing the syrup pitcher in the rack.

Sephiroth stopped mid-bite to stare at Zack eat the french toast. "I cannot believe you, Zachary."

"She gave it to me! She wouldn't have offered it if she'd really wanted it." A defiant bite of french toast followed.

Sephiroth glared at him and turned to Annya. "Would you like some of my waffle?"

"No, don't worry about it. I still have my eggs and sausage."

He transferred a quarter of his waffle to her plate anyway.

She smiled and thanked him cheerily letting him know he was free to take anything he wanted from her. Zack sniggered. She threw a sausage at him.

**xXxXxXx**

After breakfast the three of them ambled around Midgar with no goal in particular. It gave Annya a rare chance to explore her new home since neither of her two companions welcomed to idea of her wandering around Midgar alone. She didn't see what the big deal was; she saw plenty of women alone on the streets as she walked. She told them as much. They told her being raised a country girl made the difference.

She stopped abruptly, looking up at a large brightly lit building with a giant Marquee stating show times. "Wanna go see a movie?"

"Sure. I haven't seen a movie actually in a theatre since, well, your first time, Seph," Zack said.

Sephiroth gave a noncommittal grunt.

"That means 'yes'," he translated for his sister's sake.

She looked at the silver-haired man, still unsure. He nodded once. With the go ahead, she followed Zack into the theatre. Sephiroth trailed behind them.

"Can I choose the movie?" Zack asked excitedly.

"I don't mind. Sephiroth?"

"That's fine." He looked apprehensive.

"You all right?" she asked him.

"I am fine."

She didn't believe him. Her face said as much.

Zack watched the exchange unfold before announcing he had finished getting the tickets and they were in auditorium four.

**xXxXxXx**

Zack edged along his chosen row of seats, Sephiroth and Annya right behind him, trying to get to the center. He plopped down happily in the exact middle of the row. Annya took her seat as well.

Sephiroth took an inordinate amount of time taking his seat between them. He lowered the seat with his foot, and after studying it for a minute, decided it was safe. However, he wouldn't touch the seat with his hands so he ended up doing a sort of butt shimmy to get in the seat. It attracted a lot of stares from the other patrons.

Once the General was seated, Zack stood back up. "I'm going to go get popcorn."

"We just ate," Annya said.

"Popcorn!" was his only reply as he bolted out of the theater.

Once Zack was out of sight she turned to her other companion. "What happened last time you were in a theatre?"

Sephiroth looked uncomfortable.

"Zack couldn't have done anything that bad."

"Zack did not do anything. I sat in..." he could finish his sentence. He didn't want to think about it.

"A bodily fluid of some sort?"

A single nod.

She paused. "Was it gender specific?"

Another nod.

"Please, do not laugh at me," he said so quietly she almost didn't hear.

The plea was enough to quell the laugh in her throat. She instead settled for saying, "Well, at least the chances of it happening again are small."

He just nodded slowly, eyes glazing over. She decided she needed to change the subject.

"So what movie do you think Zack chose?" she asked.

Her voice brought him back into the present but her hadn't heard what she'd asked. "Come again?"

She repeated her question.

He looked at her, considering for a moment. Zack was obviously doing everything in his power to set him up with the girl. He would be surprised if the Second Class ever returned from getting popcorn. "Whatever horror movie is out right now, I expect."

"I guess— "

He never found out what she guessed because she yelled and took a wild swing behind her.

Zack had popped up from the row behind them placing a hand on Annya's shoulder. He had dodged her swing but the popcorn had not been so lucky.

"Bahamut, Zack! Why would you do that?" she asked, angrily.

The Second Class salvaged what he could of his buttery snack and gracefully jumped over the back of his seat. "I thought you'd grab, Sephiroth."

She rolled her eyes. "He doesn't like being touched without warning."

Sephiroth truly appreciated the thought but he couldn't get a word in to let her know.

"I don't like being hit without warning! You still tried it," Zack countered.

"It was a reflex. And it was your own fault anyway," she said.

"She is right, Zack," Sephiroth finally interjected.

Fortunately, the previews started before popcorn could be thrown and friendships dashed upon the kernels.

Not one movie from the previews interested Sephiroth. He just wanted the movie to start so he could see what Zack had chosen for their fate. The opening sequence revealed it to be a crime drama. Zack wasn't planning anything devious after all.

About twenty minutes into the movie, Zack turned to him and said, "Warning."

Before he could ask what his friend meant, he felt a soft thud against his right arm. He looked over to find Annya had fallen asleep against his side. He looked back to Zack for help just to find the man grinning at the screen. He had the sneaking suspicion that the grin had nothing to do with the movie since the screen currently depicted a woman begging the killer to take her instead of her child.

"Zack," he whispered. "Why is she sleeping?"

"She thinks crime dramas are boring."

"Then why would you choose— nevermind. What do I do?"

"Wake her up if it bothers you."

He glanced at the sleeping girl. She looked quite content. "I do not wish to wake her up."

Zack shrugged. "Then let her sleep and you watch the movie."

Sephiroth sighed. He reached over with his left hand and adjusted any metal parts on his coat that might be making her uncomfortable then settled down to finish the movie.

**xXxXxXx**

Annya woke up to her brother right in her face calling her name.

"Mornin' Ay! Welcome back."

"Where are we?" she asked, confused.

"The movie theatre. You fell asleep."

She rubbed her eyes. "Why'd you pick that movie? It was so boring."

"Seph seemed to like it."

"What are you talking about? Sephiroth isn't here." She froze. Her brain caught up with her. She was in a theater in Midgar not Gongaga. And she couldn't be leaning on Zack because he was in front of her.

She up righted herself with an apology. "Sorry, Seph!"

He cut her off before she could correct herself. "Do not worry about it, Ay."

She looked shocked for a moment before smiling warmly at him.

Zack pretended to wipe a tear from his eye. "What a touching moment."

Annya laughed and Zack joined her.

Sephiroth smiled but neither one noticed.


	5. Lucian

**Author's Note: **Just a warning, this chapter contains no characters from the FFVII universe. It's all OCs, but still relevant background for my other story. If this bothers you, please feel free to skip it. Also, this would take place three years before _What Makes a Monster_

**Lucian**

Mrs. Fair stared out the hall window pensively. She did not know where she had gone wrong. She obeyed and honored her husband, tried everyday to instill proper morals in her children, and she always put out her prettiest napkins for her afternoon tea socials. She couldn't think what she might have done to deserve the likes of her daughter. The girl had been nothing but embarrassment after embarrassment. But it didn't matter now. This family would never have to be ashamed of showing its face in polite society again. Not now.

"Annya! Come down here! I have a surprise for you!" Mrs. Fair called up the stairs for her daughter.

"Coming, Mum!" Annya answered as she walked down the stairs.

Annya followed her mother into the kitchen. Mrs. Fair took her seat in front of a steaming cup of tea. Her mother's best friend, Shannon Ate, was already seated, delicately sipping her own tea. Mrs. Ate's son was sitting beside her, no cup insight.

Annya wished them good morning. Her face soured as she started to prepare a cup of tea for Lucian, knowing that's why he had been left without one.

"You've met Lucian before, haven't you, dear?" Mrs. Fair asked.

"I've seen him around at school," Annya replied.

Mrs. Fair's face darkened and her knuckles whitened on her teacup.

"Oh come now, Victoria. We all know the girl's been to school. We all do stupid things when we're young. Some more so than others, yes, but the important thing is that she's not going anymore. It's all in the past," Mrs. Ate reassured her friend.

Mrs. Fair grip loosened. "You're right, Shannon. Everyone will forget about it soon, now that your Lucian is doing our family this favor. I'm just ever so grateful."

"What favor?" Annya asked as she poured the tea.

"Lucian has asked for your hand in marriage, dear," Mrs. Fair replied happily.

The sound of shattering china filled the kitchen. Mrs. Fair and Mrs. Ate shrieked in surprise.

Mrs. Fair recovered first. "You stupid girl! Can you do anything right?"

Lucian got up from his seat and kneeled next to Annya to help clean up the remains of the teapot. "Please, Mrs. Fair. She was just excited. Forgive her."

He shot a charming smile at Annya. She returned it with a suspicious look.

Mrs. Fair massaged her temple. "You're right, of course. I was just as surprised when I found out, after all."

Annya stood quickly and accepted a handful of china shards from Lucian with a quiet "thank you". She tossed them in the garbage and rushed out of the kitchen.

"Oh, the poor dear is overwhelmed. I remember when Arnold proposed to me. I hid from him for a week before I could answer, I was so embarrassed." Shannon said dreamily.

Mrs. Fair's lips pursed as she nodded in agreement, though she didn't believe for a second that her daughter had walked out to inspire the image of a shrinking violet.

"I feel I should go after her. May I ask which bedroom is hers, Mrs. Fair?" Lucian said.

"It's the first door up the stairs on the left."

Mrs. Ate looked a bit startled. "Sweetie, you can't enter a young ladies bedroom. It's indecent."

"I wouldn't think of it. I'll just speak with her through the door. Excuse me, ladies." Lucian gave them a slight bow and headed out of the kitchen.

He walked calmly up the stairs and knocked on her bedroom door. "Annya, may I have a word with you, please?"

"No."

"Why not?"

"You didn't have two words to say to me before. Why is now any different?" He had always ignored her like most everyone else in town.

"Because we're engaged now."

The door flew open. "No we're not. I haven't answered. You haven't even asked me."

"Very well. Miss Annya Fair, will you do me the honor of marrying me?"

"No."

He remained perfectly calm as he lifted a hand to play with a lock of her hair. She began to ask what he thought he was doing till he very suddenly gave it a hard yank. She gasped in pain as her head jerked sharply downwards. She righted herself to glare at him, massaging the sore spot on her head.

Lucian smirked. "I knew you'd be perfect. I want a girl I can train for myself but they're almost impossible to find around here. Parents have all already done such a good job training them, you see." He started down the stairs. "Oh, I'll tell our mothers you said 'yes'. See you at the engagement party." And he was gone.

Annya was frozen in place, trying to process what just happened to her. By the time she was rushing down the stairs to let Lucian know where he could stick his proposal, her mother was already closing the door behind the Ate's.

Mrs. Fair turned away from the door and smiled when she spotted her daughter. "Lucian must be even more charming than I thought. I didn't think you'd say 'yes' this easily."

"I didn't. I'm not going to marry him."

Mrs. Fairs face fell. "After all of the trouble you have caused this family. My Zacky is all the way on the other side of the planet because no self-respecting man would hire the brother of someone like _you_ and you would deny us our only chance at redemption?"

Annya couldn't help but feel a little guilty at how hurt she sounded. "Zack's always wanted to join SOLDIER. It had nothing to do with me."

"SOLDIER was just childhood dream. Zack is a good boy. He knew his responsibility was to this town, to this family. He would have gotten a respectable job here if it wasn't for you."

"I'm glad I helped him get out then," Annya grumbled.

Her mother's eyes took on a crazy glint she had never seen before. "Go to your room and stay there till your father comes to talk some sense into you."

Annya went without a word.


	6. Jingle

**Author's Note: **This chapter takes place during Chapter 23 of _What Makes a Monster_

* * *

**Jingle**

One of Zack's favorite things about the holidays had been the cookies. That had been before he'd had any part in making them. Several hours into it and there still wasn't a single completed cookie. Every available surface of their kitchen was covered in baked, cooled, but naked cookies. They still had to decorate every single one.

"Do we really have to frost the cookies? They'll still taste good," he said.

Annya was just finishing scooping the now Christmassy colored frostings out of mixing bowls and into piping bags. "They'll taste better with icing. Besides, decorating is the fun part."

He scoffed. It didn't sound fun. It sounded tedious.

"Why don't you go find Cloud? You've helped plenty. Thank you," she said as she walked off into the pantry to put the food coloring away.

His back hurt anytime he moved around too much so she hadn't let him do anything except sit at the table, talk, and cut the cookies out of the dough. Therefore he hadn't really helped that much and didn't feel like he should leave yet. Then again, if decorating was as fun as she claimed then she wouldn't miss him and finding out where Cloud had gone to did sound much more fun than frosting all of these cookies. Unfortunately, he was saved the trip as Cloud walked into the kitchen.

The blond's eyes widened. "This seems excessive."

"Were you on the phone this entire time?" he asked. It'd been about three hours since he'd asked Cloud to switch to the living room phone. That seemed like a long time for a phone call.

"Yes." Cloud said simply before gesturing around the kitchen. "Why are there so many cookies?"

He snickered. He'd tried telling his sister that there were only six people in the house but it had fallen on deaf ears. "I don't know. You'll have to ask Ay."

Cloud shrugged and grabbed a cookie.

Annya walked out of the pantry and spotted Cloud. "Put that down."

He laughed as Cloud shoved the entire cookie in his mouth. Annya glared at the blond.

"Come on, Ay. It's just one cookie," he said.

She turned her glare on him. "His one plus the twenty-seven you already ate, Zack."

He grinned sheepishly. It was actually an even thirty. He'd eaten three more while she was in the pantry.

"These cookies aren't for us. They're for the town," she continued.

He looked at her suspiciously. Annya was particular about who she cooked for. As far as he could tell she only cooked for people she liked and the townspeople were not counted among that number. This smelled like trouble.

She held out a piping bag with red frosting to him. "What? I can't be nice at Christmas."

He accepted the piping bag. "Did you poison the cookies?"

Cloud dropped the cookie he had just picked up.

She smirked. "Of course not. That's next Christmas. This Christmas is just to lure the town into a false sense of security."

Cloud laughed as he sat down and reclaimed his fallen cookie.

"Don't encourage her Cloud. She might actually do it." It might be the pain medication talking but he was worried that, now that she'd claimed her first blood, she'd turn into an unstoppable destructive force consumed by revenge against her past aggressors. He should have watched her more carefully while she was mixing the dough.

"Relax, Zack. I just made them to apologize for the family missing the Christmas Dance." She held out a piping bag to Cloud.

The blonde looked at the piping bag. "I want the blue one."

Annya rolled her eyes and withdrew the piping bag, handing him the light blue one instead.

"Thank you," Cloud said before looking at him, concerned. "Why would you have to apologize for that? It was an emergency."

The Christmas Dance was the one event for the year in which everyone in town was expected to show, including Annya, who was normally requested to stay at home. There were very few reasons that were accepted for missing it.

"Because this town is a collective idiot," Annya said.

"Since I was released from the hospital before the dance ended, people will think we should have shown our faces in the town hall instead of going back home," he answered more helpfully.

Cloud looked at him like he had grown a second head. He could understand. Gongaga did not tend to be the most rational place. He had a love-hate relationship with his hometown. Growing up, this town had been good to him. Most everyone here tended to get along very well with him. But he didn't like how they treated his sister and he couldn't accept the fact that he had to hide how he felt about Cloud.

He and Cloud had confessed their feelings for each other in the hospital yesterday but they couldn't do a thing about it. Cloud was getting frustrated that he wouldn't touch him just because his parents were in the house. The blond understood why it'd be bad for the town to find out but he felt that they should be relatively safe behind the doors of his bedroom. Cloud couldn't quite grasp the fact that, if they were caught, his own parents would persecute him the same as anyone else in the town.

He wasn't sure himself that his parents would persecute him. They had always treated him amazingly but that's because he was considered an obedient child. He glanced at his sister. He knew full well how his mother at least treated a disobedient child. He was not willing to risk it. That's the main reason he was eager to get back to Midgar.

"Zack, the table doesn't need icing."

His sister's voice brought him back to the task at hand. The cookie he had been frosting had overflowed. He swore and stopped squeezing the piping bag.

He stared at the ruined cookie. It was no good to be released to the public. "This one can be eaten right?"

She eyed it distastefully and nodded. He handed the cookie to Cloud who happily accepted it.

He found that his cookies didn't get much prettier even once he started paying attention. On the stocking he was frosting, the red had run into the white creating a random pink blob in the middle of the cookie. He went to hand this one to Cloud too only to find the blond had amassed a collection of pretty looking light blue and white snowflakes. Was he the only one that was terrible at this?

Against his better judgment he turned to see how Annya was progressing. His heart sank. She had finished more cookies more neatly than either of them. Her Christmas trees were complete with trunks, ornaments, and star. She had even covered the stars in edible glitter and drawn bark on the trunks. He glared at the cookie she was working on. Once they got back to Midgar he was taking her to the training hall to make her try a sword so he could feel competent again.

"You have to wait longer between colors," Cloud said. "Do a few cookies at once. Do all the white then go back and do the red. That should give the icing time to dry a bit."

He stopped glaring at his sister's cookie and looked at Cloud. "You've done this before I take it?"

Cloud smiled sadly. "Yeah. I usually do this with my Mom."

This was probably Cloud's first Christmas without his mother. He must be missing her. He'd yet to miss a Christmas with his family and he knew he'd miss them if he did. "How about next year just the two of us go to Nibelheim for the holidays?"

Cloud's face lit up but he didn't get the chance to answer because Annya swore loudly. They both turned their heads to look at her. She had squeezed the blue piping bag too hard and gotten a giant blue splat all over her almost finished Christmas tree. She dropped the piping bag and stood suddenly, her jingle bells protesting loudly.

"I guess I've been doing this too long. I'm going to take a break and go talk to Dad. I haven't actually told him about the cookies yet," She pushed the ruined cookie towards Cloud and walked out of the kitchen without further ado.

"She seems upset," Cloud said indifferently as he took a bite out of the blue Christmas tree.

"I get frustrated too when I make a mistake at something I'm usually good at." Though he had his suspicions that her mistake was caused by her frustration and not vice versa.

Cloud hummed noncommittally before smiling widely at him. "So, you'll really come to Nibelheim with me next Christmas?"

He returned the smile. "Of course. You came here this year so it's only fair."

Cloud then proceeded to tell him about Christmas in Nibelheim. How the town's children usually carol the whole week before and when they show up at your house you're supposed to give them hot cocoa and Christmas cake. How there's a huge bonfire on Christmas Eve that's meant to guide Saint Nicholas's sleigh. How they open most of their presents Christmas morning but still open one more every day till New Years.

Cloud stopped talking only as they heard Annya approaching. He laughed when Cloud glared in the direction of the noise. This wasn't the first Christmas she'd worn those jingle bells. They did get annoying.

Her break had apparently done her well because a smiling Annya finally entered the kitchen. "Dad and Mum are going to take the cookies around as soon as we're finished icing them and putting them in bags."

"Just Mom and Dad?" He'd have thought she'd be going since it was her idea.

"Yup." She sat back at the table and began working again.

If his parents were going to be out then there'd be no one here he'd have to worry about catching him and Cloud for several hours. He went back to his cookies with a new determination.

It took another couple of hours to finish decorating all the cookies. They would have gotten done quicker but they'd lost a third of their manpower when Annya had demoted Cloud from decorating to bagging because the blond would not stop making anatomically correct gingerbread men.

When all the cookies were decorated, he joined Cloud in bagging and Annya began clean up. By the time the cookies for the town had been bagged, there were still plenty leftover even with all the ones he and Cloud had already eaten.

"I'm so glad you stopped us from eating all the cookies. We only just made it," Cloud said.

"Ha ha. Help Zack take those out to my parents, will you?"

She handed them a large shopping bag to load all the smaller bags into while she finished cleaning up. He winced as he picked up the full shopping bag. It was heavier than he'd expected and it set off a jolt of pain in his back.

"Do you want me to take it?" Cloud asked.

It was more that it caught him by surprise than that it really hurt. He'd had way worse pain. "No, thank you."

He walked out of the kitchen before Cloud could protest and heard the blond following behind him. He set the bag down in the entrance hall.

"Why don't you go wait upstairs? I'm gonna see my parents off."

Cloud nodded and walked up the stairs. He could swear the blond was swinging his hips more than normal. He started to leave to go find his parents but they found him first. They already had their coats on.

He laughed. "Good timing guys. I was just coming to get you."

"Your sister came and got me," his father said. "We're going to be gone for a couple of hours."

"So I've head."

His father eyed him seriously. "You're the man of the house for the evening. Your sister is in the kitchen. Keep her in there."

"I'll try." He would not.

"I'll see you when we get back," his father said, grabbing the bag and opening the door for his mother.

"Bye, Zacky," she said and kissed him on the cheek.

He grinned at her. "Bye, Mom. You look lovely."

She giggled and stepped out the door, his father following right behind. He locked the door at started up the stairs at a jog but slowed down when the bullet hole in his back reminded him that it was still there. Cloud stood as he entered. He closed his bedroom door behind him.

"So my parents are gone," he announced without preamble.

Cloud smiled. "Good to know."

"We don't have to worry about the wrong person walking in." He moved so he was only a few inches away from the blond. "I believe I promised you something."

"Zack."

"Yeah?"

"It really doesn't bother you that I'm weak?"

This caught him by surprise. What had brought this on all of a sudden? He hadn't heard anything from any of Cloud's instructors to suggest that he was doing poorly in relation to the other cadets. "Why would you think you're weak? This isn't because I wouldn't let you carry the cookies was it?"

"No, it was nothing you did."

He frowned. Which meant it was something someone did. "You're not weak. If you were weak you wouldn't have been able to carry me to the hospital by yourself. And even if you were weak, I wouldn't care. There're more important things than how much you can bench press and you have 'em all."

Cloud suddenly gripped his sleeves and pulled him down into a kiss. This was unexpected but he could work with it. He encircled the blond's waist with his arms, pulling the smaller man even closer and Cloud moaned. He pulled away only when he needed to breathe again. He smiled as Cloud looked up at him, big blue eyes shining and lips still parted.

He smirked. "Remember when you used to be shy?"

Cloud ran his hands down his arms and smiled. "I don't think I have to worry about you rejecting me."

_Jingle. Jingle. Jingle._

Zack's head snapped in the direction of the sound, which seemed like it was coming from next door. He had failed spectacularly at his father's only instruction already.

"Ignore it. Kiss me again."

There was no reason to keep her in the kitchen anyway. He turned back to Cloud and happily obliged.

_Jingle. _

He couldn't shake the sinking feeling that he was forgetting something. He broke the kiss. "I have to go see what that is."

"It's Santa Claus. Forget it." Cloud's lips were on his again in an instant and he forgot about the jingling.

_Jingle. Jingle._

Santa Claus, huh? Sephiroth had called himself Santa Claus earlier. That'd been weird. Ifrit on a cracker, Sephiroth was in Annya's room. And those bells meant they weren't just having friendly conversation. He gently pushed Cloud away. "Sorry, Cloud. I've got to go."

Cloud swore and sourly watched Zack leave the room before slowly following. He really hated jingle bells.

* * *

**Author's Note: **You should still be hearing from me one more time before Christmas Eve with Chapter 24 for _What Makes a Monster_. But just in case, Happy Holidays everyone!


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